NBA, sportsbooks reportedly agree to ban certain bets, including parlays involving the under on same player's stats

The NBA and prominent sportsbooks have agreed to prohibit certain bets, including parlays involving the under on same player's stats, ESPN's Shams Charania and David Purdum reported Friday .

According to their report , which cited a league memo distributed to its sportsbook partners, the NBA instructed its authorized gaming operators — a group that includes DraftKings and FanDuel — to not offer bets on the winner of the opening tip and bets on players to miss specific shots, as well as under bets on players who are expected to play fewer than 12 minutes in a particular game.

"The NBA's guidance formalizes many of the market restrictions already reflected in DraftKings Sportsbook's practices," a DraftKings spokesperson said in a statement. "DraftKings supports the NBA's efforts and is committed to continued collaboration with the league to maintain game integrity, including through appropriate limits on betting markets. DraftKings' Code of Responsible Engagement is fully aligned with the league's stance on the harassment of athletes, coaches or officials."

Friday's news arrives after multiple betting scandals have threatened the league's integrity in recent years.

Most notably, a sports betting case emerged from an FBI gambling probe that, collectively, led to more than 30 arrests last fall , plus a rigged poker-ring case.

Among the six defendants in the sports betting case — which revolves around the trading of non-public information about the health and availability of NBA players — longtime NBA guard Terry Rozier was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. He pleaded not guilty in December.

Prior to a March 2023 game, in which he played a mere nine minutes and change for the Charlotte Hornets due to a foot injury, Rozier is alleged to have shared inside information about his early exit, allegedly leading to his co-conspirator bettors wagering more than $200,000 on his under bets.

Rozier, 32, most recently played for the Miami Heat during the 2024-25 season. The Heat waived him this past April .

A single player's unders were also the focus of another federal case that dealt with an NBA player, Jontay Porter, whom the NBA banned for life in 2024 after he violated the league's gambling policy .

Porter confessed that, while the froncourt reserve was on a two-way contract with the Toronto Raptors during the 2023-24 campaign, he pulled himself from games early to assist bettors.

Through its investigation, the NBA found that , before a March 2024 game, Porter disclosed confidential information about his status to "an individual he knew to be an NBA bettor." Plus, a different individual associated with Porter pursued an $80,000 parlay that hinged on Porter underperforming that day. He played just three minutes before he claimed that he felt ill.

The parlay — dependent on Porter's unders for assists, rebounds, points, 3-pointers, steals and blocks — would have won the bettor in question approximately $1.1 million. Due to Porter's actions, along with the unusual betting activity, that bet was frozen and wasn't paid out, the league announced in April 2024.

NBA executive vice president Scott Kaufman-Ross told ESPN the Porter and Rozier cases factored into the league's call to ban these kinds of parlays. It's important to note that, when Porter's illicit activity came to light, the NBA prevented sportsbooks from taking under bets on players who are on two-way deals.

"Seeing where we may have had issues in the past is one of the inputs to determining the types of things that we think could be problematic," Kaufman-Ross said, per ESPN.

Also in the memo the league sent out, it's reportedly outlined that former Chicago Bears star defensive back Charles "Peanut" Tillman, who went on to work for the FBI, will lead in-person training on the NBA's sports betting rules.